Since 2010 - Research Team/Inventors at NC State University

Dimitris Argyropoulos

Chief Executive Officer

919-757-4143

Professor of Forest Biomaterials Dimitris Argyropoulos is an expert in synthetic polymer and biopolymer chemistry, in particular cellulose-derived materials spanning nanocrystals, fibers, and nanofibrillated fibers (NFC).

Frank Scholle

President

919-624-1744

Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Frank Scholle has been developing the NFC-PS anti-infective technology for the past 7 years, and is a virologist with an emphasis on flaviviruses and West Nile virus.

Reza Ghiladi

Chief Technology Officer

919-513-0680

Associate Professor of Chemistry Reza Ghiladi has been working on the technology behind anti-infective materials for the past 10 years, and has an established program with expertise in antibacterial photodynamic inactivation.

Our Technology

Founded in 2018, PhotoCide Protection develops self-disinfecting materials such fabrics, plastics, and coatings based on a disruptive technology that combines engineered cellulose (NFC) with photosensitizers (PS, compounds that react with room light and oxygen from air) to emit an environmentally-friendly biocidal agent called ‘singlet’ oxygen that simultaneously destroys a wide range of harmful pathogens on surfaces.

A recent study with one NFC-PS formulation showed that it was capable of killing 99.999+% of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium, Klebsiella pneumoniae, vesicular stomatitis virus and dengue-1 virus.

Antimicrobials based on biocidal singlet oxygen have advantages of

  1. decaying back to environmentally-friendly breathable oxygen after use;
  2. nonspecific damage with broad antimicrobial efficacy against bacteria, yeast, viruses, and parasites; and
  3. microbes cannot develop resistance to singlet oxygen.

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